Just another n54 engine build thread

To make my long story short, younger brother ended up blowing my motor by throwing the trans into 2nd instead of 4th. As a result the timing chain had snapped and a few pistons seem to have kissed a few valves. Still in the process of tearing everything down but it isn't looking too good for the n54 here, new head will be needed I am told by my shop as well as a few new pistons. I could sit here cry, whine and most importantly make my brother wash the car every week for the next 2 years of his life but instead I choose to take a breath, and take advantage of this opportunity. As soon as the tear down is done and we have a full picture of everything, I will be ordering CP forged 9;5;1 pistons from vac and possibly getting the head machined to flow better by a local shop( Suggestions Needed ). I have pm'd tony for stg3 turbos, RB about his (which he has in-stock). Tony says 1 month for the stg3 but the RB are already proving to provide a ton of power for the money. It all depends if VT can finish up the stg3 turbos in a month or two I would be willing to give them a go if not then RBs it is. I also want to say that I did contact vishnu and waiting to hear back from them as well. Car is going from procede and dci to fully built with upgraded turbos, suggestions are welcome. Stay tooned.

I had emailed their sales dept, seems like they are a bit too busy , have got no response from them yet.

They're def busy -- I've called the past couple days about buying MS109 since they're a VP Racing Fuel retailer and it took a couple tries to get someone on the phone. Of course I completely forget that December isn't exactly "race season" in the Northeast and they don't have MS109 in stock

less CR = more boost/timing = more power.. more reliable/safe to tune too

Originally Posted by benzy89

If you're gonna order CP pistons (and prob the Carillo rods) from VAC, why not have them do the cylinder head as well?? Sure you'd get a better deal if you do it all thru them

their cylinder head builds are INSANELY overpriced. for what you get at least..

Originally Posted by boosted5

I had emailed their sales dept, seems like they are a bit too busy , have got no response from them yet.

email tony@vac, i've been talking to him for the last 2 days, he's VERY quick at replying.. and super helpful

I look VERY forward to seeing this go , it's kinda funny to me that pretty much straight after dzenno had his head done, LOTS of people start popping up with builds like this... i was hoping to be the first to be fully built like this too, boo (N) hahaha. at least i'll have some solid results to go off soon thanks to people like you

It can also make the car more sluggish. One of the advantages of DI is the ability to run a higher static cr. It should still be fun regardless though!

it shouldn't be too noticable on boost (over 2000rpm?), supras/skylines/evos at 8.5-9.0:1 aren't horrible to drive, unless you have a giant GT45 on an 8.5:1 2jz, which really doesn't wake up for a long time lol... and well, non twin scroll evo's as they don't get boost for a while either.. biggish turbo on a small motor, totally different.. the alpina at 9.4:1 isn't horrible?

It can also make the car more sluggish. One of the advantages of DI is the ability to run a higher static cr. It should still be fun regardless though!

This is true. But it means that hell get more power with the compression than another car with the same compression. I'd be worried about keeping the ems happy when mucking about with compression. Guess well find out next year

Lower CR will help when running turbos larger than RBs. You won't NEED meth or e85 to run the higher boost. I'd also look into springs and retainers if you're looking to go big turbo. Revving this car to 9k with a GTX35r on it or 2 GTX2876 would just be sick!

The money shift cost of the build should go to your bro! Just sayin Good luck and looking towards your progress..

Honestly the build was coming sooner or later, now it is being done much earlier. I probably would have left the head alone but dzenno has shown us what gains there are to be had with a properly flowing head.